Phirni

This is Milo’s version of phirni with rice and chana dal. He made it on the occasion of Janamastami. It tasted yummy. I have asked him to make it again for Anaya’s first birthday.

 Ingredients- 

1 cup basmati rice washed and drained,

½ cup soaked chana dal,

2 cups coconut milk,

4 cups whole milk,

A handful of dry fruits,

1/4^th tsp cardamom powder,

1/8^th tsp of nutmeg powder,

1.5 cups sugar,

2 tsp ghee

 

Method –

 

Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed pan and lightly fry rice till ghee coats the grain well.

Add chana dal to the rice and fry for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Add 2 cups milk and keep stirring till the rice grain puffs up.

Keep adding the remaining milk little at a time till all the milk is over.

Now add the coconut milk and dry fruits and let it boil for 5 minutes.

Mix in the sugar, cardamom and nutmeg powder. Keep stirring till the sugar dissolves.

Serve hot or chilled.

 

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Simple Vegetable Pulao

I made this pulao for lunch on janamastami. It’s a very simple pulao that gets done in no time. This was the first time I made pulao in a pressure cooker. I was scared of the rice being overcooked. But surprisingly the grain was just cooked right and had become long. Soaking the rice in water for atleast half and hour makes the rice grain long. Adding Maggie cubes to the pulao adds an extra taste to it. Omit it if you are against MSG.

Ingredients- 

4 cups basmati rice washed and soaked in water for half and hour,

3 onions sliced vertically,

1 big tomato sliced vertically,

2 small carrots chopped,

15 French beans chopped,

1 cup fresh/frozen green peas,

A handful of coriander leaves,

A handful of mint leaves,

2 green chilies,

1” piece of ginger,

15 to 18 cloves of garlic,

½ tsp turmeric powder,

½ tsp garam masala powder,

2 Maggie cubes (optional),

5 cloves,

3 cardamoms,

3 small pieces of cinnamon,

2 bay leaves,

1 tsp sahi jeera,

6 cashews,

6 badam,

10 raisins,

Juice of 1 lime,

5 tsp oil,

Salt to taste,

8 cups of water

Method- 

Make a paste of coriander leaves, mint leaves, ginger, garlic and green chilies with little water and keep aside.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed cooker and crackle sahi jeera for 5 to 10 seconds. Fry bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, cashew, badam and raisins.

Add onions and fry till onions turn golden drown. Now add the ground green paste and fry till the raw smell goes off.

Add carrot, French beans, peas and tomato.        

Add salt, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, crumpled Maggie cubes and fry for a minute or two.

Drain the rice and add to the vegetable mix and stir gently.

Mix everything well with 8 cups of hot water and pressure cook for 2 whistles.

Serve hot with onion tomato raita.

 

 

Chicken Roast

This is a healthy version of chicken starter without any oil. You can eat this with rice or chapattis or just have it as starters.

I also make fish in this style but without adding yogurt.

Ingredients-

4 chicken drumsticks,

2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste,

3 tsp red chili powder,

1 tsp coriander powder,

7 to 8 fenugreek seeds,

4 tsp thick yogurt,

Juice of a half lime,

4 to 5 curry leaves,

Salt to taste

Method –

Wash the drumsticks and apply all the above ingredients and marinate it for 3 to 4 hours.

Heat a shallow frying pan. Arrange the chicken pieces in the pan and put in the marinate mixture to cover the chicken.

Cover with a lid and let it cook on a low flame.

In about 5 minutes, turn the chicken pieces. Put little water if the masala is getting burnt.

Again cover and cook till chicken is fully cooked.

When the chicken is done, keep the flame high and remove the lid to dry out any water in the masala and to make it thick.

Serve hot.

Burnt Onion for Masala Gravy

In olden days this burnt onion was made in a chulla. That gave  more flavor to the curry as compared to the modern gas burnt onion.

To make this, just slice off the root of the onion and keep it on the gas burner directly as shown in the picture. Let it cook till the outer skin on the onion gets burnt. Little juice will start oozing out. Switch off the gas and wash it under running water to remove the burnt skin. The inner flesh of the onion is used in masalas.

Tomato Curry

I make this curry whenever we are fed up of eating the same dal everyday. This is my mom’s way of making this curry. She adds rasam powder to it which gives it extra taste. This curry is my favorite and I end up eating more rice when this is made 🙂

Ingredients-

1 cup fresh/frozen grated coconut,

5 big ripe tomatoes,

6 dry red chilies,

1 tsp coriander seeds,

5 garlic flakes,

2 tsp rasam powder (optional)

For tempering –

1 tsp mustard seeds,

1 dry red chili,

1 green chili,

4 cloves garlic,

4 to 5 curry leaves,

1/8^th tsp asafetida,

2 tsp oil

Method –     

Cook the tomatoes till soft. Once cooled, peel them and keep aside.

Fry coriander seeds and red chilies in very little oil and grind this with peeled tomatoes, coconut and 5 garlic flakes with sufficient water to form a fine paste.

Heat oil in a deep bottomed pan and splutter mustard seeds.

Add dry red chili cut into 2 pieces, green chili, 4 cloves of crushed garlic, curry leaves and asafetida. Fry for a few seconds and add the ground paste. Add salt, rasam powder and water to make gravy like consistency.

Let it boil. Serve hot with rice and papad.

Chicken Veggie Soup

I made this broth for Anaya on last Sunday. She liked it and drank a bowl full of it. This was the first time I introduced chicken in her diet. She is 10.5 months now.

 Ingredients-

1 small piece of boneless chicken,

1 tsp finely chopped onion,

1 tsp finely chopped tomatoes,

1 tsp finely chopped carrot,

1 tsp finely chopped French beans,

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped,

A pinch of turmeric powder,

A pinch of garam masala powder,

A pinch of pepper powder,

½ tsp ghee/butter,

Salt,

2 cups water

Method-

Fry garlic, onion, tomatoes, carrot and French beans in ghee for 1 to 2 minutes.

Add turmeric powder, chicken, garam masala, pepper powder, salt and water.

Cover and cook till the chicken is done.

Mash the chicken entirely in the broth. Strain and serve.